On Silent Wings
by ForeverFalling86
Summary: The dying tossed up their prayers to the sky in hopes that someone would hear. Death is anything but silent.


A/N: I've actually had this laying around half finished for quite a while. I decided it was about time I finished it. Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review.

ForeverFalling.

* * *

The cement clouds loomed over head as the battle waged.

The air filled with the screams of the wounded and the soon to be dead. Prayers were tossed up to the sky in hopes that someone would hear; they clogged the air and weighed it down with their despair.

The shrieks of the hollows joined the din as he ran Hyorinmaru through their flesh. The thunder clashed and echoed as the ground rumbled and cracked beneath their feet.

A dragon's roar broke through as he lunged towards the giant creature that had set itself in his path. Red eyes met with teal as cold steel met with flesh. He swiftly pulled away feeling the blade catch bone as it retraced its path to the open air, spraying blood on white skin.

He'd lost count of how many he'd slain. Of how many had been lost to the endless void of death.

He hissed in pain as a claw racked across his back leaving angry red in its wake to spill onto black. He'd lost his haori sometime during the battle; ripped to shreds that decorated the earth along with smears of white and red. He choked on the tainted air as he slid away from the beast, knowing no one would come to his aid should he need it.

His bare foot connected with something solid and when teal eyes glanced down he knew it to be the arm of a fallen comrade. With a dispassionate glance he kicked it aside, sending it rolling in another direction.

The crying weighed down his ears, slowed him and oh how he wished they would just shut up.

_Just die_, he wanted to hiss out at them as they crawled along the ground like worms through the soil; begging, pleading for him to help them. Couldn't they see that he was no better off? Couldn't they see how they simply slowed him down? How their words made the air thick? How he choked on them. How they filled his throat and clogged his airways. They constricted his lungs until his own body would surely give way.

_Shut up_, he screamed as yet another called out to him.

_Please taicho_.

He was no longer their taicho. Their captain. He was just like them; fighting to live. His troops were decimated anyway. Where was the point in continuing on with that farce? Who was he to hold himself above them? Where was his glory now? It was seeping into the ground. Flowing from deep wounds and being coughed up by word heavy lungs.

The Hollow was advancing, stocking towards him like a cat to a mouse. He could hear it purring at him, as the sounds of clashing metal echoed across the field from far off.

Maybe it knew. Knew how tired his body had become. Maybe it could hear how his heart thudded weakly in his chest. As if it too wanted to rest.

The white haired boy- for he was no longer anything more-tightened his grip on Hyorinmaru as the monster drew near.

_Has the little boy decided he wants to play?_ A simpering voice.

He glared as he rushed forward, striking quickly despite everything else.

The Hollow grinned down at him, a child dwarfed by its size.

_You poor tired little thing._

He tried to summon his dragon, tried to pull the moisture from the air to do his bidding. Surely with all of the tears flowing from dying eyes it should have been a simple task. But instead of having his guardian appear, instead of feeling the cool of the ice on his skin he only felt warmth.

The heat of the Hollow's fowl breath as it loomed over him. He stared into its empty eyes as the screams continued.

_Taicho!_

It was as if they were determined to strangle him. To make him blue with their grief.

_I am not your taicho_.

Claws dug into his stomach as red joined red and black. Was he screaming? Was someone choking on _him_? The weight in his ears began to dissipate. His lungs began to clear. Who called out for help from someone who was worse off than them?

The Hollow smiled down at him, as if a mother to her child.

_Hush_, it whispered as a claw slid across pallid skin.

And the world was silent.


End file.
